On this Sunday, we celebrate the ministry of the laity of our church and affirm our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the sake of the world. The term laity is derived from the Greek word Laos, which means "people" or "the whole people of God."
     A Christian is a person who has accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and is a disciple of Christ, a pupil who follows the teacher. Discipleship is the key to lay ministry. A disciple lives the Great Commandment to "Love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." (Luke 10:27) Christians love because God first loved us - we have experienced God's love and grace. At the end of the Gospel of John, Jesus asks Peter three times, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter replies, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep." Lay ministry is responding to that call to love as God loves in all of life, in all of our relationships.
     "My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love-so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him... My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us-perfect love!" (I John 4:7-12, The Message)
     "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:35) Will the world know we are Christians by our love?
　
Dianne Morrison
Lay Leader